Trajectories of Participation: From Development to Governance

Participation in influencing one’s life is a natural human phenomenon; we all want to shape our life and make our choices as per our dreams and aspirations. Yet, for many millions around the world, the imagination to dream and opportunity to influence their choices continue to remain a mirage. Structural inequalities, systemic obstacles and forces of exclusion create obstacles to meaningful and authentic participation for many.

When the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) gave a call for popular participation through the organisation of the rural poor in late 1970s, and WHO declaration of AlmaAta pronounced participation as key to primary health care, development theory and practice was just beginning to understand the meaning of participation. It is in early 1980s that practices of participatory development, initially by workers’ organisations, community associations and voluntary initiatives, began to gain some momentum.

By 1990s, participation had entered the official development programming, and many invited spaces for participation of the poor and the marginalised were being designed and implemented. The results of such approaches at ‘mainstreaming’ participation have been mixed. It soon became clear that participation must engage policy-making and governance, if development programming had to become participatory in an authentic manner. Sometimes, participation became tokenism; many a time it resulted in co-optation of dissent. Structural conditions necessary for nurturing and sustaining authentic participation needed attention too. Relations of power need to be transformed in favour of the marginalised for their collective voice and agency to be sustained.

Linking participation with citizenship further created spaces for claiming rights and creating spaces for learning active citizenship. Special attention has also been focused on girls and women, Scheduled Caste and minorities, indigenous and tribal communities.

PRIA was founded on the practice of participation nearly four decades ago. Its own journey contributed to and paralleled the above discourse and practice of participation over this period. Derived from the perspective of Participatory Research, PRIA’s distinctive focus was on valuing experiential knowledge of the excluded themselves as building block of their learning and organising for effective participation.

As we reflect on our journey to draw lessons for the future, a Conversation on the ‘Trajectory of Participation: From Development to Governance’ is both timely and appropriate.

Some questions can focus our reflections during this conversation:

• How does the balance sheet of critical appraisal of participation of the excluded in claiming their rights over the past five decades look like?
• What strategies of promoting inclusive participation in development programming were effective in integrating participation in governance?
• What insights can be relevant for re-claiming participation, both in theory and practice, in post-pandemic democratic recovery?

This Samvad (Conversation) is being organised by Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) in partnership with Participedia and Praxis in virtual mode on 12 October, 2021 from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm (Indian time).

PROGRAMME AGENDA:

Moderator: Dr Rajesh Tandon, Founder-President, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), India

For more detailed webinar report: Click here

For webinar recording: Click here